Biography

Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, CBE (born 2 October 1951), better known by his professional name Sting, is an English musician, singer-songwriter, activist, actor and philanthropist. Prior to starting his solo career, he was the principal songwriter, lead singer and bassist of the rock band The Police.

As a solo musician and member of The Police, Sting has received sixteen Grammy Awards for his work, receiving his first Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 1981, and receiving an Oscar nomination for best song. He is a member of both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In September 1981, Sting made his first live solo appearance, performing on all four nights of the fourth Amnesty International benefit The Secret Policeman's Other Ball at the invitation of producer Martin Lewis. He performed solo versions of "Roxanne" and "Message in a Bottle."

His first solo album, 1985's “The Dream of the Blue Turtles,” featured a cast of jazz musicians, including Kenny Kirkland, Darryl Jones, Omar Hakim, and Branford Marsalis. It included the hit single "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free." Within a year, the album reached Triple Platinum. This album would help Sting garner a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year.

Sting released “...Nothing Like the Sun” in 1987, including the hit songs "We'll Be Together," "Fragile," "Englishman in New York" and "Be Still My Beating Heart," dedicated to his mother, who had recently died. It eventually went Double Platinum.

His 1991 album “The Soul Cages” was dedicated to his recently deceased father and included the Top 10 song "All This Time," which reached #5 on the U.S. Pop chart, and the Grammy-winning "The Soul Cages." The album eventually went Platinum.

In 1993, he released the album “Ten Summoner's Tales,” which went Triple Platinum in just over a year. “Ten Summoner's Tales” was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 1993 and nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1994.

ogether with Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart, Sting performed the chart-topping song "All for Love" for the film “The Three Musketeers.” The song stayed at the top of the U.S. charts for five weeks and went Platinum; it is to date Sting's only song from his post-Police career to top the U.S. charts.

Sting's September 1999 album “Brand New Day” included the Top 40 hits "Brand New Day" and "Desert Rose." The album went Triple Platinum by January 2001. In 2000, he won Grammy Awards for “Brand New Day” and the song of the same name.

“Sacred Love” was released in 2003 featuring collaborations with hip-hop artist Mary J. Blige and sitar performer Anoushka Shankar. He and Blige won a Grammy for their duet, "Whenever I Say Your Name." The album reached platinum status in January 2004.

“If On a Winter's Night...” released in 2009 peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200 chart and was later certified Gold.

In 2010 Sting released the album “Symphonicities” which is a companion piece to the tour of the same name, in which Sting, performing with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, reinterprets some of his songs as classical symphonic compositions. To date, the album had sold over 267,000 copies worldwide.